Each of us is sometimes a cretin, a fool, a moron, or a lunatic. A normal person is just a reasonable mix of these components, these four ideal types. - Umberto Eco

The good of a book lies in it being read. A Book is made up of signs that speak of other signs, which in turn speak of things.

"We were interrupted by a girl with a strawberry birthmark on her nose; she had some papers in her hand and asked if we had signed the petition for the imprisoned Argentinean comrades. Belbo signed without reading it. "They're even worse of than I am," he said to Diotallevi, who was regarding him with a bemused expression. "He can't sign," Belbo said to the girl. "He belongs to a small Indian sect that forbids its members to write their own names. Many of them are in jail because of government persecution." The girl looked sympathetically at Diotallevi and passed the petition to me.

"And who are they?" I asked.

"What do you mean, who are they? Argentinean comrades."

"But what group do they belong to?"

"The Tacuarus, I think."

"The Tacuarus are fascists," I said. As if I knew one group from the other.

"Fascist pig," the girl hissed at me. She left."

when a man has little time, he must take care to maintain his calm. We must act as if we had eternity before us.